Jesus sat in boat just offshore teaching; one parable tells about the farmer sowing the word – people are seeds. I have read this familiar parable often. “People are like seed,” is the phrase that caught my attention.
I see a parallel between my life and this parable in a new way this morning.
The Path
“As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.”
Mark 4:4
Jesus later explained that some people hear the word, but “Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.” (vs 15)
I grew up in a loving home; faith was not absent, but it was distant. We rarely attended church. A bible was present but rarely opened. I heard God existed, Christ came as baby and died as a man. There was no ability within me to connect the Word further. In my limited understanding God seemed distant and unrelational.
Like the parable, I could “hear” but I was robbed of deeper understanding!
The Rocks
“Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”
Mark 4:16-17
When I was 12, I went to a bible camp. What a great experience! It was here that I first “heard” the message of God’s love for me. God was no longer distant or distracted. His love and intention is for all to come into a personal relationship with Him. This is the reason He sent His Son Jesus,
born as baby,
holy and righteous in every way
to live pure
paying the price for my sin
on an agonizing cross
then rising to live again
exalted in heaven…
The truth of the Word hit my rocky heart breaking it! Such love beyond comprehension! Such a Saviour! Who could possibly reject such love?
Just like the parable, “with joy” I received Jesus as my Saviour! But my life held no roots system – no one to support me in this new decision. My trouble and persecution were very minor, through parents who did not believe – prayer and consistent bible reading was not an acceptable practise in my home. It grieves me now to confess how quickly I fell away…
The Thorns
It would take 10 years of painful wandering. At a point of utter desperation, I heard the Holy Spirit as He showed me He had never left me! I crumbled to my knees,
giving God back
every broken piece
of what remained
a fragile offering
insufficient
so little – so late…
“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
Mark 4:19
To take a Christian from culture is one thing; to take culture from the Christian is another! Worries, wealth and desire have life gripping holds!
God continues to deal with these, not because He is mean or demanding, but rather because they “choke the word, making it unfruitful” in my life.
There has been a long process of breaking these things in my life. I wish I could say it was quick and painless!
If I were totally honest, a large chunk of my praying has really been religious complaining about “worries, wealth and desire“. Only when I agree with God’s desire to see a fruitfulness in my life, will I be willing to leave these things behind.
Good Soil
“Others, like seed sown on good soil,
hear the word, accept it and produce a crop –
some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Mark 4:20
Hearing… accepting… producing! The quantity of production isn’t the most important! Producing is!
To reach our full potential of God’s purpose means
an intentional redirection in accepting God’s word
a deliberate move away from the things that would choke out life
a focused purposeful aim toward all that
He desires
leaving our own behind.
Consumer mentality never comes here! This is the place of actively
pursuing Holy Spirit
treasuring spiritual gifts
exercising legs of faith and
backbones of endurance.
Hearing is easy! Acceptance is a decision! Producing requires labour!
The Farmer Sows The Word – People Are Like Seed
So where am I now? Since accepting Christ and the finished work of the cross, I have left the hard path. I am intentionally walking in “good soil”. Thankfully, God continues exposing and dealing with rocks and thorns that effect my ability to root and grow completely.
More and more I see God’s potential and design for my life. Sometimes I even see a glimpse of “the crop” He is producing through me.
Refreshed, I move forward.
I see a moving forward in many people’s lives; a God positioning time!
The Word
God give us each the grace
to leave grumbling and complaining behind,
stretching forward to
hear and accept all you are saying
in my life and in the lives of others.
I desire to truly produce
a healthy and abundant crop
into your kingdom.